Daniela Knaan
UX/UI Designer at - AdobeOverview
Do you remember this moment right after your baby came out and rested on your chest? Or are you pregnant and this is the way you imagine it to be?
The first thing most mothers want immediately after birth is to feel their babies and hold them close. And yet, most people don`t know that skin-to-skin contact with your baby after birth is more than just a desire. It is a deep crucial instinct that lately has been proven to have both short and long-term health benefits for mother and baby.
Despite strong proof, sadly, in many hospitals in the Western world, your baby will be taken from you shortly after birth, to be checked, weighed, dressed, and whatever. Sometimes even before trying to breastfeed for the first time…
On this page…
- What exactly is skin-to-skin contact
- Who discovered it?
- The 9 instinctive stages
- The benefits
- How do you do it
- Conclusion
What exactly is skin-to-skin care?
Skin-to-skin or “kangaroo care” is when your naked baby is rested on your bare chest (or daddy `s). The name “kangaroo care” is taken from the behavior of the kangaroo which carries her newborn with her until it is ready to be independent.
How were the benefits discovered?
The first benefits of skin-to-skin contact were discovered by accident in the 1970s out of a shortage in incubators. Specialists decided to try nature`s way and advised mothers to put their naked babies on their bare chests and feed them only breastmilk.
The outcome was astonishing: not only got those mothers and babies well enough to be discharged early from the hospital, but the mortality rates dropped from 70 % to 30%!
The 9 instinctive stages
Our baby goes through several stages right after they are born. Those stages are the first coordination of the five senses- smell, taste, sight, hearing, touch, and movement.
1. The first cry
The birth cry helps your baby to start breathing by themselves – the lungs expand for the first time.
This moment is crucial for your baby`s survival and they will be able even to make defensive movements to protect their airways.
2. Relaxation
The baby rests on our chest and shows no movement. This stage is very often misunderstood and staff may attempt massaging the baby`s back to “wake them”, which is so disturbing!
A certain hormone called catecholamine is very high in babies- in fact up to ten times higher than in a normal adult – right before and after birth. This hormone helps our baby have a higher pain threshold, which they need to go through the birth canal- ouch! – and it makes them seem a little indifferent to their surroundings.
The stage of relaxation is also a way of hiding quietly from potential harmers.
3. Awakening
This is the stage of the first activity- small movements with hands and legs, and opening of the eyes.
4. Activity
During this stage of activity, your baby becomes more alert and the movement of the mouth and tongue becomes stronger. Isn`t it amazing that our breasts will smell like the taste of the amniotic fluid? That`s what will help the baby find their milk! They will try to touch the breast and afterward taste their hands. During this time, if we talk to our baby, they will most likely look where the sound came from and find first eye contact with us. A memorable moment…
5. Resting
Again, this stage is often misunderstood and interrupted. A resting stage can be seen throughout all of the stages and is crucial for memorizing and learning!
6. Crawling
Now it is time to find the milk source! Our baby starts to push their way up and sidewards to mom’s breast. The whole body moves with the effort to reach…Important to help position the baby`s feet in a way that they will be able to push!
7. Familizarition
Once our baby has reached the breast, it will start licking and making funny noises with its mouth. They are learning to coordinate their tongue, mouth, and lips, which is very important work! Often babies are disturbed within this learning process and we think we should help them as they are not able to latch on by themselves… That is wrong and babies often cry if they are forced to latch without being ready to do so themselves. If we give our baby the chance to self-adjusting, they are more likely to attach the right way and have fewer latching problems later on…
So, patience, please!
8. Suckling
There you go… this is the stage where the first successful breastfeeding happens! All the work pays off, our baby will start suckling when they feel satisfied with their latch. Very often we see that the tiny hands which moved around so much until now, suddenly become still, and the eyes become focused.
9. Falling asleep
The last stage is reached, our baby has learned to use and coordinate all of their senses, is fed and calm, and will close their eyes and sleep now.
At any stage, undisturbed skin-to-skin contact is crucial for your baby! If one of the stages is interrupted, our baby may have to go through all of them from the beginning and maybe will get so tired that they fall asleep before being able to feed!
You can ask hospital staff to perform certain routine checks while the baby is on you, and you can also ask them to delay some things until at least one and a half hours after birth or until you see your baby has gone through all the stages.
The benefits
An undisturbed couple of hours of skin-on-skin care right after birth has shown lifelong benefits according to studies.
1. Better regulation of body temperature
Our babies cannot yet regulate their own bodies very well, and it takes some time for them to adjust. Babies who had skin-to-skin care showed more stable body temperature.
2. Better brain function as a long-term benefit
When your baby`s heart rate, body temperature, and oxygen levels are stable, they can rest easier and all energy can be used for growing and developing. This has been shown to be beneficial, especially for brain function.
3. Less pain and stress
If you hold your baby skin to skin, their level of stress hormones reduces significantly, and instead, the “cuddle hormone” (oxytocin) is released and helps our baby relax.
4. Better adjustment- less traumatic transfer
Mom’s chest is warm like the womb… Keeping our baby there helps a less abrupt transfer to the outside cold environment.
5. Better bonding between Mom and baby
The hormone oxytocin is responsible for our desire to hold our baby close by right after birth. If we smell our baby during this sensitive time and breastfeed them- the foundation for a deep bond with our baby will be laid.
6. Increased weight gain
If your baby is warm, they don`t need to waste energy on warming themselves… All energy is used to grow…
7. Better success with breastfeeding
Right after birth, our baby has an increased sensibility for odors. which means they will smell our colostrum.
And even better-
Because of the very high level of the hormone catecholamine at this sensitive time- which is associated with memory and learning- our baby will strongly remember that same odor…
How amazingly nature intended mom and baby to have this sensitive time right after birth to bond and establish a first breastfeeding experience!
If we let our baby go through the 9 stages in an uninterrupted way after birth, we set the best possible start for successful breastfeeding and a strong bond for life.
Preterm babies
Studies showed that skin-to-skin care was especially beneficial in preterm and low birth weight babies.
The benefits for the little preemies were increased weight gain, better blood circulation, pain relief, and lower rates of infection.
The benefits for the parents who gave skin-to-skin care were a decrease in anxiety and a gain in confidence about how to care for the baby…
How do you do it
You should sit in a comfortable semi-upright position and rest your naked baby- diaper is okay- on your bare chest. While skin-to-skin care is recommended frequently during the first weeks after birth, the most important and crucial time is immediately after birth until the first feeding- about one and a half to two hours long.
Conclusion
We could do so many things right if we would just stick to what nature intended… our lifestyle changes constantly and in hospitals, the whole “procedure of giving birth” is so monitored, so scheduled, so influenced and altered, and interrupted by all the things that are to be checked and measured. We as moms are barely given the chance to listen to our instincts. And if we want to we are often advised to proceed otherwise or we get interrupted.
Unbelievably we got so lost that we need studies and proven benefits to remember our own deeply buried instincts.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_care
https://www.parents.com/baby/care/newborn/kangaroo-care-the-importance-of-a-parents-touch/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6949952/#apa14754-bib-0021
